Bye Bye Manny

Despite the fact that I love the term (very good one Chris), there is no way I’m going to be accused of lolley-blogging. So here’s a new entry, right on the same day as the last one.

Twenty million dollars is a lot of money to pay anyone for anything, especially a professional athlete. But when you look at what Manny Ramirez does with his bat, although it’s still too much money, it’s a lot easier to take. There are plenty of other contracts out there where guys are making millions and are either on the D.L. doing nothing, or even worse (because it’s not covered by insurance), on the roster doing nothing. Just ask George Steinbrenner, he knows all about that.

But anyway, at least with Manny, we’re getting our money’s worth. But at the same time, if we’re going to give this guy 20 million dollars a year, then he SHOULD be putting up those kinds of numbers, and not only that but he should be doing it without all the crap that’s been coming along with it.

This latest episode is the last straw as far as I’m concerned. First of all, the manager has to talk him into playing a game in Chicago last week by promising to give him today off. That’s bad enough, but now our right fielder is forced onto the D.L., circumstances have changed, the manager needs him to play, and he refuses. This is completely unacceptable. You know it’s bad when the manager, who staunchly defends everyone on the team to a fault, hangs him out to dry by admitting to the media that he asked Manny to play and Manny refused.

We can’t trade him now, not without sacrificing our chances to repeat. There’s no way that we would be able to replace his bat right in the middle of the season, and it’s not likely that we’ll find any takers anyway. Although I wouldn’t put it past Theo to come up with something that allows us to get rid of him now and still keep our chances to win it, or maybe even improve them. Anything’s possible with Theo (yes I do believe he is a miracle worker) but it’s probably not likely, so we ride it out and hope he helps this team bring us another one.

But as soon as the season ends, and I mean AS SOON as the season ends, even if it means ripping the Championship Trophy out of his hands in the champaign drenched locker room, I want him gone.

I’ve had enough. I have had as much as one Red Sox fan should be expected to take. If he’s not happy here and wants to go then I say good riddance to him. It won’t be easy to get someone to take the remaining 3 years of his contract, but I think something could be worked out somewhere; maybe the Mets would like to reunite him with Pedro.

We certainly wouldn’t be able to get someone in left field to replace his numbers, but with the money we save by getting rid of his contract, even if we have to eat some of it, or take on another one in the trade, we should still be able to get a very good replacement, as well as an upgrade at first, or second, or maybe even both. Or get us another starting pitcher or some bullpen help.

We don’t need Manny to win another pennant after this year. There are plenty of other ways to do it, and we need to begin trying some of them. There will be life and championships after Manny, and as far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.